Zonkey, Zebra Donkey Hybrid

Grevy's zebra has been crossed with the Somali ass in the early 20th century. Zorses were bred by the US Government and reported in Genetics in Relation to Agriculture by E. B. Babcock and R. E. Clausen (early 20th century), in an attempt to investigate inheritance and telegony. The experiments were also reported in The Science of Life by H G Wells, J Huxley and G P Wells (c. 1929).
The 1970s continued the interest in zebra crosses. A New York Times article from 16 June 1973 mentioned the birth of a cross between a zebra and a donkey at the Jerusalem Zoo. They called it a "hamzab." In the 1970s, the Colchester Zoo in England bred zedonks, at first by accident and later to create a disease-resistant riding and draft animal. The experiment was discontinued when zoos became more conservation-minded. A number of hybrids were kept at the zoo after this; the last died in 2009. One adult and a foal remain at the tourist attraction of Groombridge Place near Tonbridge in Kent.
• 21st century
Today, various zebroids are bred as riding and draft animals, and as curiosities in circuses and smaller zoos. Zorses are bred in Africa and used for trekking on Mount Kenya; the zebra parent gives resistance to the nagana pest disease. A zorse (more accurately a zony) was born at Eden Ostrich World, Cumbria, England in 2001 after a zebra was left in a field with a Shetland pony. It was referred to as a Zetland. Usually, a zebra stallion is paired with a horse mare or donkey mare, but in 2005, a Burchell's zebra named Allison produced a zonkey called Alex sired by a donkey at Highland plantation in the parish of Saint Thomas, Barbados. Alex, born 21 April 2005, is apparently the first zonkey in Barbados. In 2007, a stallion, Ulysses, and a zebra mare, Eclipse, produced a zebroid named Eclyse, displaying an unusually patchy color coating. The Wild Animal Safari in Springfield, Missouri, and its sister location in Pine Mountain, Georgia, have several zedonks as of 31 March 2010. In July 2010, a zedonk was born at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Dahlonega, Georgia. Another zebra–donkey hybrid, like the Barbados zonkey sired by a donkey, was born 3 July 2011 in Haicang Safari Park, Haicang, Xiamen, China. A Zonkey, Ippo was born 21 July 2013 in an animal reserve, Florence, Italy.